What is Polyamory? A Guide to Understanding Poly Relationships
What is polyamory? What seems to have once been an bizarre, almost unfathomable concept to most — the act of sustaining multiple, prolonged, committed relationships at once, has now not only become increasingly common, but is seemingly a trend. I remember back when poly wasn’t even really discussed openly — sure, there were swingers, people who had casual sex with others outside of the primary, committed relationship, but poly was (at least to me) seemingly nonexistent. It wasn’t discussed outside of some rare few people who practiced it — it was mainly a clandestine thing that most didn’t even think about.
But aren’t swinging and polyamory the same thing? Isn’t that just the new term for an old tradition of having multiple sexual partners that goes back further than we can imagine, back through the masquerade parties of the Renaissance and even as far back as ancient Babylonian celebrations of sexuality? Not exactly. There are some distinct differences that, while sometimes seemingly semantic or subtle, play a massive roll in what it feels like to be in such a relationship in real life, and sometimes it’s easier to recognize something through what it isn’t than what it is so we can better chip away to unveil its core essence.
It Isn’t Swinging
“Swinging” and polyamory are totally…
